Improvement in adjustable ladder-trusses



G. H. POX. Adjustable Ladder-Truss.

No. 204,962. Patented June 18,1878.

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UNITED PATENT current GEORGE H. Fox, onBosfToN, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT I'N ADJUSTABLE"LADD'ER-TRUSSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 204,962, dated J une18, 1878 application filed March 30, 1878.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE E. Fox, of Boston,in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented newand useful Improvements in Adjustable Truss for Ladders, of which thefollowing is a specification:

This invention relates to means for stiffening and strengthening longladders, by providing them with an adjustable truss, which may beapplied or removed very expeditiously, and which occupies very littlespace when not in use.

The invention consists in the employment of a rope or its substitute,provided with suitable means for attaching it to or removing it from theladder in an expeditious manner, and in a strut or brace, to be alsoattached to the ladder,-and serving to maintain the rope at the desireddistance from the latter, to obtain a truss by which the ladder isstiffened.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent, in Figure 1, aperspective elevation of a ladder provided with my invention, and inFig. 2 a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a view of thebrace, to be explained.

In these drawings, A represents a ladder of any ordinary construction,the side rails or supports of which are shown at B B, and its rounds atO (J, &c.

In carrying out my invention I provide a rope, D, of wire or otherproper material, and to one end of this rope I secure a hook, E, whichis adapted to hook over and take a secure hold upon one of the rounds ofthe ladthe round nearest oneend of the ladder.

To the opposite end of the ladder, and claspin g the last round thereat,I employ a second hook, F, and through the eye or bend a of such hook Ipass the free end of the rope,

ladder and at about its center I affix a brace, G, which, when in activeuse, stands out at right angles to the body of the ladder, and has aneye, I), at its end, through which the rope passes.

The rope, secured to one end of the ladder, as stated, and passingthrough the eye of the brace G, is drawn very taut, and its free end,after passing through the loop or hook F, is made fast by belayin g itabout a pin or stud, c, affixed to the adjacent part of the ladder, orin any suitable manner.

The brace G serves to maintain the central portion of the rope at theproper distance from the ladder; and in this manner I provide anefficient truss, which very greatly stiffens and strengthens suchladder.

The brace and its hooks E and F are readily detachable from the ladder,if desired; but when such ladder is not in active use, they are to befolded flat down upon it, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and thusdo not add to the bulk or size of the latter.

The entire truss, composed of the rope D, hooks E and F, and brace G,may be removed from one ladder and applied to another easily andexpeditiously. In order that the brace G may be turned down upon theladder, when the latter is not in use, I form each end with a hook, d,to clasp the round of the ladder, while the extremity of each hook Ibend at right angles, as shown at e in Fig. 3 of the drawings, whichfind a bearing against the edges of the side rails of the ladder, andserve to hold the brace at right angles to the body of the ladderagainst the pressure or strain of the rope, which would tend to crowd itdown upon the ladder. When the ladder is not in use, the ends of thebrace are crowded together until the ears 6 are released from the sidesof the ladder, when the brace may be folded down upon the ladder, asshown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

I do not confine myself to the precise construction of parts as hereinshown and described,as these may be easily varied without losing sightof the principle of my invention, which I consider to embrace thecombination, with a ladder, of an adjustable truss.

Having thus described the nature and purposes of my invention, I claimas my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, the following:

1. Aladder-truss consisting of a rope or its equivalent means, forattaching the end of the same to the ladder, and an intermediate strut,the whole adapted for ready application to and removal from any ordinaryladder,- and adjustable to varying lengths of laddersysub- 4. Thebrace-G, asform-ed with the hooks stantially as set forth. (I; d andears 0 e, substantially as and for 2. The hooks E and F and brace G, aspurposes stated.

adapted to fold down upon the body of the ladder, substantially as andfor purposes stated. GEO. H. FOX. 4

3. The hooks E and F and brace G, as

adapted to fold down upon the body of the Witnesses:

ladder, and readily removable from the ladder, F. CURTIS,

substantially as and for purposes stated. LOUIS A. CURTIs.

